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The new Coda S5.5 amplifier: It's a "Petite Beast"!

I have in-house the New Coda Technologies S5.5 amplifier for review for Stereo Times website. It will be awhile before I write the review. However, I'm so impressed by the performance of this petite amplifier, it only weights 45 pounds, that I wanted to give a heads up to you GON members if you are in the market for a balanced pure class A amplifier, delivers 50 watts @ 8 Ohms, and can drop 100 Amperes of current on a peak!

The world class build quality of Coda amplifiers is on display with the S5.5, along with the most beautiful purity of tonality, precise sound-staging, complete liquidity offered by pure class A design, and what might be the best top end regarding details, decays, and a natural shimmering without brightness or any edge at all.

The S5.5 uses extremely wide bandwidth output transistors instead of the usual TO3 devices used in most transistor designs. I own the Coda #16, which is great, but the midrange/high end is taken to another level of musical enjoyment with the S5.5. The S5.5 has a sense of speed/aliveness that is exciting to listen to that you experience in live music. The amp is dynamic as hell, has driven with ease any speaker I have tried it with, hence my nickname of the "Petite Beast". Remember, 50 watts pure class A, can drop 100 amperes of current and only weights 45 pounds.

Teajay (Terry London)

johnah5
johnah5 OP
221 posts
 

Hey paulietunes,

Your Pass Labs XA30.8 is a great amplifier. I would say the major differences between the XA30.8 and the S5.5 are, 1) The top end is more airy/extended/detailed on the S5.5 without being etched or bright in tone. 2) The S5.5 has a faster more alive sounding presentation then your Pass Labs. Both are great, but slightly different.

kairosman's avatar
kairosman
250 posts
 

Have the S5.5, love it, can’t believe the price/performance value on offer, $6K new 10 year warranty 45 lbs only runs warm not hot and yes drives everything with ease.

My understanding is that it is sliding bias not "pure" Class A which makes sense given it runs warm not hot, but I defer to Terry on this as I’m not in contact with the factory.

Terry, how new is the S5.5 actually? And is there a better value US hifi gear manufacturer than CODA?

If there is I’m all ears...

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,158 posts
 

Hi Terry,

Does it have balanced input and what is the price?

Thanks.

willywonka
189 posts
 

What makes the Coda S5.5 better than the much more expensive #16 that has 100 watts of class A. BTW I own the Coda #8 that has the first 18 watts in Class A for the V1 that I own. Beautiful amp with massive current!

yyzsantabarbara
4,505 posts
 

The #16 is much cleaner sounding on the top end vs the #8 V1, which I also owned. The #16 is the strongest amp for bass that I owned. I would think that the cleaner top end is what this S5.5 would offer vs the #8.

I did a listening test with the #16 vs the Benchmark AHB2 last weekend. The #16 was better on the mid and the highs on every track with my current setup. However, on 1 track, Sympathy for the Devil by the Stones. My musician friend told me that the AHB2 had better articulation of the bass. He said the CODA did not get the bass correct on that track (it got a little confused). However, on everything other track the #16 was great on all areas. The AHB2 also got some microphone placement correct vs the CODA.

He normally HATES the AHB2, but I think he came away surprised at the potential it has. When I get a warmer DAC, PlayBack Designs Dream, we will do another listening session with the 2 amps.

For the longest time, I found the CODA #16 a little lacking on the top end, that was until last week when I replaced my speaker cable with Audience FrontRow. Now I have no issues with the #16. I also use my too hot Benchmark DAC3B with the #16, which seems to work well.

This is a bit of a contrarian view, but there are tons of other posts saying different things than I am about the #16. The S5.5 looks like the baby brother.

CODA Technologies – Destination HiFi

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